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Reviews For: PalStar AT1500CV

Category: Antenna Tuners/Matching Networks

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Review Summary For : PalStar AT1500CV
Reviews: 68MSRP: 429.95
Description:
Antenna Tuner with CERAMIC roller inductor. 1500 Watt.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.palstar.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00684.8
AA2AT Rating: 2004-07-28
THE BEST Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is the best tunner they have in the market that work very good.I have use other brand names and they don't work as well. if you know a better one please let me know. This company has a very good service, when you call them for any problem, they are always willing to help you

Thank you Paul
K0KAV Rating: 2004-07-26
Excelletn!!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is my second AT-1500CV. I sold my first one and went to the AT1KM which I also liked very much. Ultimately, I came back to the 1500CV. Noticed the new one has plastic vernier dials for the two variable caps and the front panel is powder coated like the cabinet. Didn't open it up but it's definitely one of the nicer tuners on the market. Far superior to the MFJ line of tuners in quality and workmanship. Well worth the money.
VA7FU Rating: 2004-07-09
Excellent product Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
It replaced a dead on arrival MFJ tuner and I am glad I have the palstar instead.Easy to read dials and Smooth functions and easy to tune any and I did try everything in around or near the shack, that had a wire attached. Got more output from my AL 811 on 80 meters than before.Really happy with this equipment and a great addition to the shack
KQ9L Rating: 2004-06-14
Great versatile tuner! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've now had my tuner for over a year. It has performed flawlessly for me for the entire time. I did have a problem when I fed it with 12 AC instead of DC, but hey that was my bad!!

The tuner has been able to tune everyting from a longwire, dipole, beam and vertical on 10-80m. I do not have an antenna for 160m and therefore cannot comment on its performance on this band. During this time, it has not even as much as hiccuped during use let along arc.

I run mainly CW at QRP levels, however, during SSB contests the Palstar was fed 800w from an 811H and 500w from my PW1 for 24hrs at a NO problem. During the few times I run 500w CW (can't go higher as the house electronics/alarm goes nuts!) the tuner had no problems handling the power.

As far as build quality. Mine is built like a tank. The input / output tuning caps are silky smooth and the roller inductor with counter allows precise tuning time after time. I'm not sure what the problems were with previous reviews comments re: build quality, but mine if GREAT!

Finally, customer service is great! After a year of use, I went to look for my owner's manual and alas it had vanished. A quick email to Paul at Palstar resulted in a replacement in a few days. This is unlike other companies where I have been charged for a replacement manual!

As always, your milage may vary, but for me the AT1500CV was WELL worth the money and will be a valuable piece of equipment in my shack for years to come.

Rich
KQ9L
KC0QWS Rating: 2004-03-27
Outstanding Piece of Equipment Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Past experience has taught me to do as much research as possible - before purchasing a product. I make it a point to plan ahead, and do my best to buy products that will not only fit my current needs, but also the ones that I can picture in the future.
Having been in the market for an antenna tuner for quite a while, I have had the opportunity to read numerous reviews on the products available worldwide. After comparing features, ratings, and pricing, I finally narrowed the field down to two tuners. After several nights of mulling it over, I decided to go with the Palstar AT1500CV.
Being made in America was a definate plus, and the staff at Palstar are very pleasant to deal with. They answered every question I posed to them, and all within a couple of hours of asking. Thank You Palstar.
Having had the tuner for a while, I am extremely happy with it. All of the controls are smooth and precise. There are no "cheap" switches or dials. The meter has a warm amber glow to it, making it very easy to read.
Tuning is very easy to accomplish and with the dial markings, it is easy to return to previous settings. It has been able to match almost perfectly every antenna I have thrown at it. The cross-needle meter is very accurate.
The tuner can accomodate up to two coaxial and one balanced line antennas. It has the ability to match impedances from 20 to 1500 ohms, from 1.8 to 30MHz.
Since I only run up to 100 watts, I am not able to verify how well it works on high power, but I feel sure it will do just fine. Of all the equipment I have purchased, this unit is one of the best!
The AT1500CV not only looks great on my bench, but it performs perfectly! I have had NO problems with it at all. I will highly recommend it to everyone. The Palstar is the best purchase I have made yet.

73s
Dan
KC0QWS
KW4CQ Rating: 2004-03-02
AT1500CV+Alpha99=Great! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I can run my Alpha 99 through the 1500CV at full bore and the tuner will perform absolutely flawlessly. I can even tune my antennas under full power and there is no arcing at all. The controls opeate smooth as silk including the roller inductor control. This model is smaller and more compact than the PalStar AT4K I had previously but it does the same job here for me. Component quality and manufacturing craftsmanship is also five stars as is the call-in tech support you get from PalStar. I use the 1500CV to tune a 40m double bazooka, a SuperLoop 80, and a Sommer XP-507 Log Periodic beam. I have not tried this tuner on 160m because I don't have an antenna up for that band at this time.
KB0RE Rating: 2004-01-19
Good tuner after retrofit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased a used Palstar AT1500CV tuner about three months ago (built date May 2002). The manual stated that it would tune from 160-10 meters. After installing it in line with the transceiver I found that it wouldn't tune my center-fed zepp antenna on 160 meters (length 180 feet). I was using a MFJ 949E tuner which would tune up the antenna for 160 meters. I called Palstar, Inc. and they said it needed larger air-variable capacitors. I sent the tuner in and they replaced the 220pf caps with 315pf caps exactly like the capacitors there installing in the new model AT1500CV tuner. Turn-around time was great. After receiving the tuner from Palstar I installed it and now it tunes 160 meters without a problem. I'm satisfied how the tuner work after retrofit. If you plan on buying a used Palstar AT1500CV and want to work 160 meters make sure that it has the new 315pf capacitors installed in the tuner.
N0SP Rating: 2003-08-15
Flawless performance, built to LAST. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I first laid eyes on this tuner at the 2002 Dayton Hamvention. It, along with the other Palstar models, was displayed with the cover off. I was REALLY impressed at the quality of build and internal layout. I purchased one, brought it home, and put it in to service on my 1500 watt station where it has been for about 1½ years and it has never uttered a pop or spark. But it doesn't end there...
First of all the user interface is excellent. A front panel switch allows the user to select between three antennas, one of them a balanced output through a balun. A position to bypass the tuner is also included. This thing is BUILT! The cabinet is made of heavy gauge aluminum and it sits flat on the table. The reduction ball drive for the capacitors allows precise and smooth settings with the finely calibrated scales on the front panel. The fit & finish is superb with a heavy wrinkle finish on the cover, silkscreened front panel, and well-labeled rear panel. No guessing on how to hook it up. The inductor moves smoothly yet never skips or arcs. A big ++PLUS++ with this tuner is how repeatable the settings are. I use three different antennas on several bands. I have a page full of "settings" logged that I can return to at any time and never have to modify or retune. (well, until it rains or snows, but thats not the tuner's fault!) Over the last 15 months or so I have used it at full legal limit on CW and during tune ups. It has never complained. One particular tuning combination I use (feeding a 40 meter loop on 80 meters) presents of horrendous matching solution to the tuner. Most would say it cannot be done. It's way out of range on two analyzers I have (one is a $700 AEA) with an SWR greater than 30:1. Yet this 1500CV handles it just fine with 1,000 watts. With any more power the line isolator I have next to the balun outside overheats, but the tuner does not!
After owning it for over a year I finally decided to take off the cover and look inside. What I saw REALLY surprised me. ALL inside surfaces are plated, painted, and finished just like the outside! This tuner can sit in your musty garage for 10 years and it won't end up looking like the bottom of your toilet tank. And the plating is not a cheap alodine dip, it's a solid bonded electroplate of some kind. Even the inside cover is finished like the outside.
Closer inspection revealed:
>>All current carrying wires are heavy, well soldered, and dressed artfully.
>>Extension shafts to switches and coils are not cheap plastic rods, but instead brass or stainless steel. (no sloppiness or backlash!)
>>Shaft couplings all use FOUR steel allen screws that are Locktited in to position.
>>All bearings are lubricated with a dap of some kind of white grease that doesn't run.
>>BIG standoff insulators.
>>BIG balun.
>>Most all of the hardware used for electrical or mechanical integrity is has Locktite across it. Some is red, some is green, that probably means something, but I'm not sure what.
>>Wattmeter and SWR readings are very accurate as compared with two Bird wattmeters I have.
>>Then there's this inductor. This thing is BUILT! The silver-plated edge-wound inductor is held in place and spaced by a HEAVY well constructed chassis. I don't know the nomenclature on the material, but there was A LOT of work put in to this thing. Later conversation with the company revealed that the coils and capacitors are custom manufactured at their factory. These are not purchased in China and just thrown in the tuner. There is a lot of machining in the rods that set the spacing on the coil. It's not Delrin, it's much more dense, and I don't think it's fiberglass, (too heavy) but it's not going anywhere, thats for sure.
>>The roller that contacts the coil is not a simple pulley on a bearing. It appears to be two machined cerrated disks that are clamped together in such a way to "bite" the coil. I'm guessing this explains why it doesn't pop and skip like some to.
After looking inside this thing (finally) I realized why it has performed so well. Also, knowing how I had used it, I FULLY expected to see some darkened areas on the coil where it has been heat stressed. There were NONE.. it looked as pristine as the day it was made. No sign of heat or arcing on the coil or antenna switch.
I have to mention something about tuners in general. I see postings on Eham where reviewers claim that their tuner pops or sparks. It is virtually impossible for any manufacturer to place an absolute power rating on an antenna tuner not knowing the infinite variety of loads it will be subjected to in the field. Such a "perfect" tuner would be the size of a small refrigerator and cost $3,000.00. There are tuning circumstances that can easily cause tens of thousands of volts across some components, or a few dozen amperes, even at moderate power levels. I'm reminded of a longwire I was feeding some years ago. It worked on all bands with a tuner.. but at the low end of 40 meters with 500 watts it would throw a 4-inch arc inside the tuner! On another unit I melted the solder at one end of the coil using only 140 watts (AM carrier) As good hams we have to recognize those situations and add some feedline or change antenna length to avoid these tuning points. In my work I fly an airplane that uses an auto-coupler (tuner) that matches the antenna to a 2-30mhz HF transciever. This is a $28,000 autotuner..! and with it is published a list of frequencies that this tuner will not match with that particular antenna. Each of us has a set of frequencies that can't be used with our tuners also, most of us just don't know what they are. Instead some will blame the tuner.
This unit is a KEEPER... it will be here a long time. The only time I'll replace it is perhaps with Palstar's AT4K if I decide to get serious with a large open-wire fed dipole. The AT4K has the balun at the INPUT side of the tuner instead of the "antenna" side. They're the only company making them right now. This allows the balun (a quality current-type) to always see a matched load. With typical tuners the balun at the output is subjected to serious reactances that can lead to premature saturation, heating, parasitics, and failure. Palstar solves that in the AT4K as well as a new 1500BAL model that has just been released. I'm considering that unit also.
In short:
H I G H L Y R E C O M E N D E D ! !

73,
Dennis
NØSP
KA0KA Rating: 2003-08-14
Built SOLID, smooth as silk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased this tuner on the recomendation of a friend about a year ago. When I took it out of the box I was really impressed with it's construction. The controls are as smooth as cream. Using it was straightforward and it easily obtained a match on all bands with my large open-wire fed dipole. Once I wrote down the settings for the different bands I could return to a perfect match every time. I run the legal limit and have never experienced any arcing, pops, smoke, or other problems. When I rotate the inductor the unit STAYS PUT.. not shake all over the table like my old Ameritron did. The lighted cross-needle metering is easy to read and accurate. After using it a few weeks I had to find out what made this thing tick. When I took the cover off and looked inside I was convinced I had my money's worth. I was totally impressed with the large balun, well laid out internal construction, heavy wire, silver plated coil, and BIG capacitors. No more Brand-X in this shack!
73
Tyler..
KA0KA
WD9ICU Rating: 2003-08-12
wasted money Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
EEEEEEWWWWWWW...my palstar stinks! Especially after I cranked 800 watts into it. O'L arc n spark is what I call it now.Not much good for much over 500 watts. I thought I was buying a top notch tuner but got a bottom feeding sucker,ME!
Looking for another tuner!!!